Dredging machine



July 7, 1942. H. s. GERKEN DREDGIN'G MACHINE Filed May 14, 1938 Z-Sheets-Sheet l T /0 Hg 0 Ma 6 /6 2 20 a9 July 7, 1942.

H. s. GERKEN DREDGING MACHINE Fiied May 14, 1938 2 Sheets-She e t 2 ATTORNEYS.

INV

pump.

Patented July 7, 1942 DREDGING MACHINE Howard S. Gerken, Buffalo, N. Y., assignor of one-half to Erie Sand and Gravel Company, Erie, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application May 14, 1938, Serial No. 208,079

3 Claims.

This invention relates to dredges and, as exemplified, is directed to a hydraulic dredge, commonly referred to as a sand sucker. In the use of such dredges, material is drawn up through suction of a pump and delivered to boxes on the boat or dredge, and as the solids fill the boxes, the water is allowed to escape, leaving practically the solids of the material. In the present invention, chambers are arranged along the sides of the boat, preferably between the box sides and the sides of the boat, and means are provided for filling these chambers. These chambers may be connected so that they will automatically fill equally. On the other hand, they may be disconnected and the level independently controlled in the chambers, so as to trim the boat. The filling of these chambers is also useful in that with this added load it is possible to lower the level f the boat and thus reduce the lift of the In fact a level may be maintained in which the lift to the pump is at, or below the water level of the body of water supporting the boat. As the boat is filled, these chambers may be emptied to compensate for the added load and thus the level may be maintained throughout the filling operation. Finally, the tanks may be entirely emptied so as to assure buoyancy of the boat. A further use of these chambers is to keep the boat afloat even though other parts of the boat may be flooded.

The invention also contemplates a particular shape of box as formed in the present invention. The box is wider at the bottom than at the top, thus providing overhanging side walls and this largely prevents any carrying over of water from the boxes that may be incident when the water in the boxes is subject to pitching of the boat with a consequent surging of the water against the sides. Instead of following up the sides and passing over as with the vertical walls of boxes now in use, the inward inclination tends to deflect and curl the water over toward the center, thus preventing water loss, or loss of material which may be carried with the water. Features and details of the invention will appear from the specification and claims.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings as follows:

Fig. 1 shows a plan View of the dredge.

Fig. 2 a side elevation partly in section.

Fig. 3 an enlarged section on the line 3-3 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 a section on the line 4-4 in Fig. 2.

the deck beams on which an ordinary deck 2 is formed; 3 the plates covering the hull; 4 a power plant, which may be an ordinary steam engine and boiler; 5 the usual pilot house at the front of the boat.

Material receiving boxes 6 are arranged midships. They have water tight bulkheads I at the remote ends of the boxes, and bulkheads 8 are sufficiently spaced apart to provide a pump compartment 9 between the boxes. The boxes have side walls II] which are backed by beams I I. The bottom of the box I2 is extended beyond the sides of the box out to the sides of the hull. The usual water ballast chamber I3 is arranged under the floor. The floor is carried by stanchions I4 extending upwardly from cross ribs. A filter floor I5 is formed above the floor I2. This is preferably made of planks formed in two layers with offset joints, the layers of the floor being spaced apart and the lower layer being spaced from the floor. This arrangement affords tortuous passages through which the water may filter from the body of the material and by reason of the arched floor, the water so filtered passes laterally into passages I6, the passages I6 communicating with the space below the layer of the planks I5. Plate I6a are extended along the lower corners of the box, making a discharge passage for the water. These passages empty into pipes IT. The pipes I! lead to an intake I8 of a sump pump I9, the pump I9 being driven by an engine 20 and discharging through a pipe 2| through the side f the boat. This pump and engine are arranged in a compartment between the boxes. A suction pump 22 has its inlet 23 connected with a suction dredge pipe 24 in the usual manner. It has a discharge part 25 which is extended and adjusted over the boxes to discharge the pump material. The pump is driven by an engine 28. It will be understood that for manipulating the boat the boxes may be filled 'more or less with water to afford ballast for the boat, particularly when running empty to the filling grounds and where used in this way, the inclined walls are important as the water level is maintained as may be desired without material loss through the pitching of the boat as the inclined sides turn the water back upon itself as distinguished from throwing it up the sides and out with a straight sided box.

Arranged at the sides of the boat are chambers 21. These are water tight and preferably provided with baffles 28 to prevent extreme surging of the water therein. The chambers on one side I marks the boat frame including the ribs; 2a of the boat are connected with the chambers on the opposite side of the boat by pipes 29 so that the chambers at the two sides are maintained with a uniform water level. The pipes 29 are controlled by valves 30 so that the chambers may be maintained with this water level so as to trim the boat as desired.

Means are provided for filling, discharging, and controlling the water level in the chambers so that water may be pumped from outside the boat, or water may be pumped from the chambers at one side into chambers at the opposite side. A pump 3| is arranged in the compartment 9 and is driven by an engine 32. A manifold 33 is connected with an intake 34 of the pump and a manifold 35 with the ordinary discharge of the pump. A pipe 31 leads from the water at the side of the boat and is connected by pipes 38 and 39 with the manifolds 35 and 33 respectively. These pipes are controlled by valves 4! and 42 respectively. Pipes 43 lead from each of the chambers and are connected by pipes 44 with the manifolds 33 and 35, each of these connections being valved, so that they may be valve controlled. In this way any chamber may be connected to the intake of the pump 3|, or the discharge from the pump 3 l, or any chamber may receive through the piping either water transferred from another chamber or water received from the lake through the pipe 31, or any chamber may be discharged by transferring water to another chamber or by discharging the water therefrom to the lake. Thus it is possible through the valve controls of these pipe connections to maintain the water level in the chambers in any manner desired; that is, the level may be brought up, thus depressing the boat to any extent desired, or may be discharged, thus increasing the buoyancy of the boat as desired. The water in chambers at one side may be kept at a higher level than water at the opposite side so as to trim the boat, and the pair of chambers toward the bow may be given a difierent level than the pair of chambers toward the stern as the conditions may warrant.

By utilizing these chambers, the pump may be depressed so as to practically eliminate the lift of the pumps drawing up the material. They may be gradually emptied as the added weight of the material in the boxes increases so as to maintain a desired level, and they may be emptied to give the boat greater buoyancy at a higher level as the loading is accomplished. The amount of water in each chamber may be controlled to steady the boat. It will be understood that as the material is dumped into the boxes, with the water conveying it to the boxes the level of the water during the operation extends upwardly to an overflow conduit 2!, which discharges over the boats side. The material settles in the tank and continuously displaces the water as the material fills the boxes. It will be observed that the inclined side walls of the box, giving the greater capacity at the bottom of the box, lowers the center of gravity of the boat and this is also desirable.

It will be noted that the operating mechanism for the loading and trimming operation are all gathered into the compartment between the boxes. Ordinarily the different pumps are driven with steam engines receiving their steam from the power plant at the rear of the boat. The boat, as shown, is equipped with the usual crane 45, which is mounted on tracks 46 extending upwardly from the sides of the box. Also the boat is supplied with a belt conveyor 41 swiveled on the box 48 and powered from that position. The belt conveyor is carried by a cable 49 extending from the conveyor to struts 50 at the bow of the boat.

What I claim as new is:

1. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a hull; an enclosed water and material receiving and retaining box in the hull; a bottom for said box having a filter floor comprising two layers of planks, the spaces between the planks in the two layers being ofiset, one layer of planks being spaced from the other and the lower layer of planks spaced from the bottom of the box; drainage channels at the bottom and sides of the box communicating with the space below the lower layer of planks; means for delivering Water and material to the box; and means for drawing water from the drainage passages at the bottom of the box.

2. A ship of the character described including a hull, a water and material receiving and retaining box, including surrounding and bottom walls, in the hull for retaining water and materials at levels varying from the level of the water sustaining the hull, the sides of the box being spaced from the sides of the hull, a tank arranged in the space between each side of the box and each side of the hull, means delivering water to and discharging water from the tanks, and valves operating with said means independently controlling the delivery and discharge of water to and from the tanks whereby the level and trim of the hull may be shifted by the controlled water content of the tanks.

3. A ship of the character described including a hull, a water and material receiving and retaining box, including surrounding and bottom walls, in the hull for retaining water and materials at levels varying from the level of the water sustaining the hull, the sides of the box being spaced from the sides of the hull, a plurality of tanks arranged in the space between each side of the box and each side of the hull, means delivering water to and discharging water from the tanks, and valves operating with said means independently controlling the delivery and discharge of water to and from the tanks whereby the level and trim of the hull may be shifted by the controlled water content of the tanks.

HOWARD S. GERKEN. 

